


Rings

by froggy, tashacho (froggy)



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Eventual Levi/Erwin Smith, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, Fae & Fairies, Faerie Erwin, Fairy Tale Elements, Falling In Love, M/M, Magic, Marriage, Marriage Proposal, Mystery, Mythical Beings & Creatures, POV Levi (Shingeki no Kyojin), Royalty, Slow Burn, well okay the marriage part is really complicated
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-25
Updated: 2015-11-05
Packaged: 2018-04-28 00:51:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,106
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5071591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggy/pseuds/froggy, https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggy/pseuds/tashacho
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The scent of roses and strange spices seeped into the air, and Erwin touched Levi’s arm. “Levi,” he crooned, “One day soon, if it’s to your liking, I would like to marry you.”</p><p>~~~</p><p>After his mother disappears, Levi returns to his childhood home, a place where the veil between humans and faeries is thin. Erwin, a powerful fae who desperately wants a human bride, can help Levi find her.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

At the edge of the forest, where shadows clawed out and magic hung thick in the air like fog, Levi saw something dangerous in the form of boy his own age.  
  
The boy, ethereal and drenched in primary colors, beckoned, but Levi wouldn't approach. He didn’t dare to- not when he could recall stories of hungry things that waited in the forest. Mother had told him, hundreds of times, of things that waited in the forest.  
  
Once more, the boy beckoned, and once again Levi refused to approach.

It didn’t bother the boy. Like most of his kind, he had learned many traps and tricks to rope in careless humans, and without waiting, he asked, “What is your name?”

Warnings and stories could only protect Levi so much, and he didn’t know the power of a name. Naïve, he answered, and as soon as the boy’s features brightened, Levi realized his mistake.

“ _Le-vi_ ,” the boy repeated, and each syllable felt like quicksand around Levi's feet. He tugged at them, attempting to run away, but something held him in place.

The boy hummed. “Levi, my name is Erwin.”

Before Levi noticed him moving, Erwin stood right in front of him, with an overwhelming presence. Levi tried to scream, but whatever magic had locked him in place kept his voice silent as well. Mother had warned him about the faeries in the forest; she’d told him to be wary and never wander too close to the trees.   
  
The scent of roses and strange spices seeped into the air, and Erwin touched Levi’s arm. “Levi,” he crooned, “One day soon, if it’s to your liking, I would like to marry you.”

Through some unexpected mercy, or force of will, Levi’s knees bent and the invisible chains around him broke. For a moment, Erwin looked as harmless as any boy but Levi didn’t take the time to study him. Instead, he ran and ran, until he ran into the safety of the family inn.

~~~

Kuschel, elbow deep in soap suds and scrubbing hard at a pan, let Levi hug one of her legs and hide his face in her jeans. Without a single word or tear, he’d charged into the kitchen leaving a trail of mud across the linoleum. After letting Levi hold onto her for a few moments, Kuschel finally spoke.

“Darling, what happened to you?” she asked, gently. She dried off a hand to run it through his hair, and Levi looked up at her with haunted, glassy eyes, before all his words spilled out.

He all but sobbed, “I saw a boy, mama.”

“A boy?” Kuschel prodded further.

“Yes, a faerie boy. He made my legs get stuck, and he tried to steal me into the forest and marry me.”

Kuschel’s hand, absent-mindedly stroking Levi’s hair, froze, and she frowned. “You _saw_ him?”

“Yeah, I saw him! His eyes were too big, mama, and his mouth was bleeding.” Levi dug his face into her thigh again, where the scent of tea and warmth could sooth his nerves.

After a pause, Kuschel returned to the dishes in the sink. She would not look at Levi, and horror stole away all the motherly confidence and sweetness in her voice.

“Oh, my darling Levi,” she mourned, with a chasm of maturity distancing her from her son. “I am sorry, my love. I didn’t do enough to protect you.”


	2. Chapter One: Levi and the Inn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "The trees spread out in impenetrable clusters, and they shivered like verdant beasts as the wind rustled them through them. Levi shivered as well. He remembered living things teeming out of the forest’s edge, as effervescent glimmers in the corner of his eyes, and wild things staring at him from the dark. More than anything else, he remembered Erwin, ethereal and unholy, and he remembered terror."
> 
> \--
> 
> Levi returns to his childhood home, and is greeted by several familiar faces- some of which are welcome, and some of which he'd hoped to never see again.

EIGHTEEN YEARS LATER

\--

“Trip’s a bit rough, squirt, but we’re almost there,” Uncle Kenny informed Levi, cheerfully.  
  
Levi thought _a bit rough_ was an understatement. Uncle Kenny’s sedan smelled like rotten paper lunch bags, with hints of cigarette smoke. It struggled across cracked asphalt and potholes, bruising Levi’s ass all along the drive from the airport to the old family inn. His legs, as short as they were, developed awful cramps in the lack of space to stretch out.  
  
The world outside his window didn’t do much to distract him from his discomfort. Along the road, they drove past an endless pattern of corn stalks and lettuce heads, with an occasional tree to break the monotony. Out here, where the fae folk frequently kidnapped humans and tricked them out of their most prized possessions, mostly farmers dared to live. The magic in the soil, air, and water made crops grow bigger, tastier, and more spectacular than most other places on the earth.  
  
A long time ago, Levi’s family had settled into the niche business of running a small town inn. Early Ackermans had built a sanctuary from the faeries: a lodge built with iron in the supports and gardens full of clovers and red berries. Rare travelers, wary of the town’s legends and the looming forest, took comfort in the inn’s safeguards against the Little Folk.  It’d even become tradition among expectant mothers to give birth in the Ackerman Inn, which incidentally led to Levi’s least favorite chore-- making and hanging wreaths of St John’s Wort from all the rafters to protect the newborns from snatching faerie fingers.

In fact, he’d never much cared for the idea of running the inn at all, or settling into a small town. It didn’t help that the faeries terrified him. As soon as he graduated high school, Levi booked it for a big school in a big city, where he worked his way through a programming degree and into some promising internships.  
  
Were it not for extenuating circumstances, Levi would be starting one of those internships around now, instead of driving up to the old inn with Uncle Kenny.  
  
Uncle Kenny, who’d chattered through most of the trip, pulled the sedan into a driveway way too fast and slammed down on the brakes, jerking Levi forward to nearly slam a cheekbone into the dashboard. Kenny didn’t even apologize as he got out of the car, and picked up Levi’s smallest bag to carry into the inn.  
  
“You know, kiddo, we all really appreciate you coming back here. Your momma probably woulda loved to see your ugly mug bouncing around the halls again. We sure could use the help too. You know how shit at cleaning I am, and Micky’s too young and too busy with school to be much help. We hired your old friend Petra to help out and she’s real sweet, but, uhh… it’s a big place for two and a half people to run. We get more and more people stopping by these days with all the tourism and—“  
  
Levi let Kenny ramble on as they pulled suitcases out of the trunk and into the inn. As they stepped in, Levi’s oxfords clunked loudly against the old wooden floor, and a bell chimed in the doorway. He took one long, good sniff of the air, and his face promptly wrinkled into a disgusted grimace. It didn’t smell much better than Kenny’s car- just a staler mix of mold, dust, and mildew. As soon as they made it to a store, Levi would arm himself with industrial strength bleach and gallons of vinegar.  
  
Kenny made a point of looking over Levi, before commenting, “Jesus, Levi, you didn’t grow at all while you were out in the big world, did you? You’re even smaller than I remember,” and Levi, already in a sour mood, flipped him off.  
  
Petra, all rosy cheeks and honeysuckle-perfume, greeted them both a few moments later with a luggage cart and a much sweeter attitude than either Kenny or Levi had ever achieved in their lifetimes. It impressed Levi, especially given the circumstances of his arrival.  
  
She gave him a half-hearted smile, before following up with an awkward embrace. “Levi,” she said, clearly uncomfortable. “It’s so good to see you again, I just…. I just, um… I wish it wasn’t like this.”  
  
“It’s good to see you as well,” Levi replied, honestly, and she looked relieved to not have crossed some forbidden line.  
  
Petra began moving Levi’s bags onto the cart, while speaking again in a much more relaxed way. “I got your room ready. I cleaned it extra, and we got new sheets and a few extra things for you. I know you didn’t really want to live here, so uh... I tried to make it nice.”  
  
She really had tried. Levi noticed more of an air freshener and new cotton smell in his room, as well as a cheery bouquet of marigold he didn’t have the heart to tell her he was allergic to. Outside his window, the forest loomed.  
  
The trees spread out in impenetrable clusters, and they shivered like verdant beasts as the wind rustled them through them. Levi shivered as well. He remembered living things teeming out of the forest’s edge, as effervescent glimmers in the corner of his eyes, and wild things staring at him from the dark. More than anything else, he remembered Erwin, ethereal and unholy, and he remembered terror.  
  
“It’s a breathtaking view, isn’t it?” Petra interrupted his thoughts, stepping next to him. “It’s really intimidating, I mean- I know what happens when people go into the woods. But it’s beautiful too.” She chewed on her lip, looking anxiously at Levi, before adding, “I didn’t really think about it bothering you, though. We can move you, if you’d like?”  
  
Levi, barely blinking, quickly responded, “No, thank you. I’ll be fine here.”  
  
Petra observed him, doubting his comfort, before giving up and gently tugging on his arm. “I’m sorry we can’t really let you settle in, but some of your old neighbors came to visit. We’ll make it quick. Do you remember the Doks?”  
  
\--

Marie Dok, with black curly locks and a magnetic charm, had been the belle of the town in her prime, despite suspicions of faerie-meddling. Back then, they’d called her Marie Evans, and she attended school with Levi. She flirted with him a few times, and all of the other students, before disappearing for a month during her senior year of high school. Much to everyone’s surprise she returned, quieter and more mature, and not long after graduating, she married Niles Dok. Last Levi heard she’d gotten pregnant with her first child.  
  
Her story was exactly the sort that Levi wanted to avoid, but he had to admit that Marie looked distant, but incredibly happy and well-adjusted as she stepped through the door with her husband, with tin-foil covered plate of something that smelled delicious and the tell-tale lump of another baby.  
  
“Levi Ackerman!” Niles exclaimed, slapping him on the back. “Our city boy! You know, they always say everyone comes crawling back to the forest! You never really get away!”  
  
“Niles,” Marie scolded, elbowing him gently, “Show a little respect. You know why he’s here.”  
  
Niles shook his head. “I don’t really think Levi was ever one to be tip-toed around,” he disagreed, although he grew more somber anyway.  
  
Standing awkwardly and searching for words, Levi scratched the back of his head, and looked away. “Thanks for visiting,” he finally mumbled.  
  
One to always pick up gaps in conversation, Marie spoke up again. “It’s our pleasure, Levi. I just wanted to let you know that you have our condolences. What happened—your mother disappearing... It must be really hard.”  
  
Levi tensed up, but Marie just stepped forward and offered the plate of mystery goods. “This is just a little something. Sweets always help during rough times, and you can consider it a welcoming gift too. I mean, who knows. She’s just missing. I came back, maybe she will too.”  
  
The following smile Marie offered Levi made him want to pick up her dish, and throw it on the ground. How _dare_ she trot right into their home, offering _condolences_  of all things? How dare she pretend to even have an idea of how bad he felt, dragged back into a tiny hell-hole town he hated with his mother _gone_? And worst, _how dare she offer him the best of circumstances? Marie had been _lucky_. She didn’t get to feel sorry for him, as if she understood him at all. Levi had rough encounters with faeries too. So far, losing his mother had played out as an entirely different experience.  
  
With his lips pressed together in a thin, angry line, Levi quietly took Marie’s plate, and muttered, “Thank you.”  
  
“Oh, it’s no problem, really-“ Marie paused, as Levi’s fingers accidentally brushed against her wedding ring during the exchange, and she stared open-mouthed at him. Niles gently prodded her, but she didn’t snap back into her normal self.  
  
“Levi,” she hissed, in horror. “I see it on you, it’s all over you—“  
  
Niles, more assertive, put his hands on her shoulders and firmly guided her away, while apologizing. “Sorry, Levi, she gets like this sometimes. She’s a bit _faerie-touched_ , you know, ever since…. ever since they took her for a month…” He continued apologizing, but Levi didn’t bother listening.  
  
_What did Marie see on me?_ he wondered, in slight dread, as he let Petra take over for him and went to the kitchen.  
  
\--

One plateful of condolence cookies, and one trip to the supermarket later, Levi ended up in the laundry room, with elbow-length yellow gloves and his hair pulled back into a bandana. The walls, damp and far too old, had started to grow mildew, and no matter how many chemicals Levi applied, and how hard he scrubbed, it stubbornly clung to the chipping paint and exposed wood beneath.  
  
Footprints echoed down the hallway, and into the room. Making assumptions, and not looking up, Levi groaned. “Petra,” he drawled, “Thank God you’re here. It’s going to take teamwork to tackle the shit growing in here- how long has it been since you or Uncle Kenny-“

“I’m not Petra.”  
  
Levi, shocked at hearing a deep voice, nearly spilled a bucket of bleach onto himself as he turned around. A rather tall, suave blond stranger stood where he’d expected tiny Petra.  
  
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to frighten you,” the man quickly apologized, looking bemused. Levi regarded him with narrowed eyes, before shooing him off with a gesture.  
  
“Guests can’t come here,” Levi informed him. “This is for staff only.”  
  
Unperturbed, the man shook his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize—but you’re _Le-vi_ , aren’t you?” Levi, confused by the strange pronunciation of his name, nodded dumbly.  
  
“I thought so. I heard about your mother, Kuschel,” the man continued, with a tsk. “It must be very hard for you.”  
  
With no kind words to respond with, Levi just glared at him again. “Staff only,” he reminded with a grunt.  
  
“Oh, of course,” the man hummed. “I’ll leave right away and go back to my room. But, uhm, Levi? It was very good to see you again.”  
  
When Levi looked back up again, the man had disappeared. Uncomfortable with even considering the implications of having ever met him before, Levi refocused on the mildew and collected all of his might to try and banish it away from the room forever.


	3. Chapter 2: The Man Who was Once a Boy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After all, where would he look for her? Would he wander into the forest, where tales grew just as tall and wild as the trees? Would he look for faeries rings, and hope to find her sleeping inside of one? Perhaps he’d find her in a more abstract concept- in her gardens, in the spaces between the flowers she so carefully tended, or in the steam that rose from mugs of warm milk she used to bring to him as a child.
> 
> \---
> 
> Everyone knows the truth already but Levi is still interrogated about it. Soon after, however, he discovers something new.

After only a day of living at the inn, Levi found two police officers waiting at the dining table for him- Officer Hannes, who smelled just as strongly of whiskey as he had 20 years ago, and another surly cop with glasses and pinned-back bangs. She looked like someone had blackmailed her into speaking with Levi, and since Levi didn’t look much more enthusiastic, he couldn’t take offense.  
  
Hannes, at least, tried to shed a positive attitude. “Hey, Levi,” he greeted, with a loppy grin. “Last time we talked, didn’t you and your friends light a bunch of firecrackers on poor ol’ Mr. Woerman’s yard?”  
  
When Levi grumbled and averted his eyes, Hannes chuckled, and waved both of his hands in front of himself. “I’m just givin’ ya a hard time, kiddo. Promise I’m not here to hassle ya this time. Just gotta couple questions about your mom.” He gestured loosely towards the woman sitting next to him. “This here’s Officer Brzenska, but you can call her Rico-”  
  
“Officer Brzenska will do,” she interrupted him curtly.  
  
Hannes shrugged her off. “Alright, Officer Brzenska. Anyway, she’s just gonna keep a couple notes, and help keep us on track. She’s newer so I figured you hadn’t met her, and I mean, she seems like a real hard-ass but she’s—“  
  
Brzenska shook her pen at him. “Keeping you on track,” she reminded, to Levi’s brief amusement.  
  
“Right.” Hannes rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay. Anyway, about your mom…. Did you talk to her much after you moved away?”  
  
Levi shrugged. “I…. guess. We’ve gotten kind of distant.” As much as Levi loved his mother, they hadn’t spoken much since Levi left. The inn kept her busy, and between that and the distance, they reserved communication to special occasions. These days, Levi cherished each word she exchanged with him, and hoarded them to himself. Prying open his chest to expose that precious relationship seemed like sacrilege, especially under the circumstances, but once Levi started talking, he always had a difficult time shutting back up. He dreaded the rest of the conversation.  
  
Hannes nodded, and Brzenska scribbled something down onto a clipboard before the next question.  
  
“When she _did_ talk with you, did she indicate she wanted to leave? Did she give you any expensive gifts, leave you any long or unusual messages- anything out of the ordinary?”  
  
“Nothing like that.”  
  
“Mmm. Did she ever talk about any faeries, or anything weird happening?”  
  
“Like I said, we aren’t really close, but… heh, she usually has something to say about faeries.”  
  
“Yeah?”  
  
“She hates them. She gets paranoid about them.” Levi’s mouth twisted around, contorting into strange shapes, and he leaned back into his chair with a loud creak. “Thinks they’re everywhere. Micky and I always got warned about staying away from them.”  
  
“Mmmhmm…” Brzenska hummed. She tapped her pen against the clipboard a few times, before writing again. Hannes peeked over her shoulder, before asking Levi another question.  
  
“Did she ever have any encounters with fairies that she talked about?”  
  
Chewing on his cheek, Levi tried to recall any specific incidents. “There were always the little things,” he finally began. “Like misplaced objects she said they stole, whispers she heard, things in the corner of her eye…. That sort of thing. She said she used to see them a lot when she was a kid, and talked to them.”  
  
“She talked to them?”  
  
“Yeah. Said it was a mistake and told us never to do it. Said they’d trick you if you did.”  
  
“Wise words,” Hannes muttered, with a shake of his head. “Did you ever encounter any faeries?”  
  
Levi swallowed. He didn’t usually discuss the things _he_ saw. Most people, especially the people who lived around here, thought it was bad luck to have interactions with faeries- and they thought that luck was contagious. “I have.”

“Would you elaborate?”  
  
“I, um…. I’ve seen… a lot of faeries,” Levi admitted, cringing. “Almost never around the inn. Usually by the forest, or in gardens… saw them about three or four times a year back when I lived here. I almost never saw any out in the city.” He couldn’t say whether he’d just grown out of it, as many children did, or if faeries just never visited the city.  
  
Hannes exchanged a look with Brzenska. “You’ve seen… a lot?”  
  
Levi added, “I mostly ignore them.” He would have brought up the incident with the fairy named Erwin, but he loathed the confident, we-know-something expressions that settled across Brzenska and Hannes’ faces. “What is it?” he asked instead, annoyed. “What do you have to say?”  
  
Hannes blinked a few times, before sighing heavily. “It’s… well, it’s just…. It falls in line with our suspicions.”  
  
“Your suspicions?”  
  
“Look, Levi, it’s no secret that your mom used to fiddle around with faeries. Your, uh…. encounters, well, it’s not unusual for children to see the Little Folk frequently when their parents have a close tie to the other world.” Hannes huffed. “Unfair to you kids, I think. Shouldn’t suffer from your parent’s mistakes.”  
  
“Momma never wanted me to see the faeries,” Levi countered, offended. “It’s not her fault.”  
  
“That’s not the point!  What I’m saying is that there’s more and more evidence that your mother’s been kidnapped by the faeries.”  
  
Levi pinched the bridge of his nose, feeling all of his exasperation and stress build up into one, long sigh. “Okay. Tell me something we don’t know already.”  
  
Hannes stood up, looking ruffled and much less perky than the beginning of their conversation. “This doesn’t seem very productive to you, I know. It’s just… we need to know where to put our efforts, Levi. It’s important for us to have as many details as possible.”  
  
Within the past five minutes, the gravity in the room must have increased, because the air on Levi’s shoulders grew heavier and exhausted him.  “Yeah, I get it,” he grumbled. “So what are you guys going to do to get her back?”  
  
“That’s, ah…. classified, right now. Can’t really discuss that sort of thing with citizens, you know?” Hannes pressed his lips together, and Levi swore under his breath.  
  
“That’s… really all the questions we have for now, right, Rico?” Hannes looked down at Brzenska, who nodded as she stood up. Hannes tried to grin like he had earlier, but his face twisted into a ghoulish wince instead. He offered his hand to Levi. “Thanks for chatting with us, kiddo. We appreciate your time.”  
  
Levi narrowed his eyes, before taking his hand and shaking it hard enough to nearly rip a seam in the shoulder of Hanne’s button-down shirt. “Yeah. Thanks.”  
  
With another half-hearted grin, Hannes tipped his cap and left. Brzenska moved to follow him, but stopped with a glance in Levi’s direction.  
  
“I’ll catch up in just a moment, Hannes,” she promised, “I just need a few more details from Mr. Ackerman.”  
  
Levi, who wanted to finish talking with the police, braced himself, but it took him completely off guard when Brzenska sat down next to him and gave him a watery smile.  
  
“This is completely off the record,” she began, adjusting her glasses, “and it’d be best if you didn’t tell anyone about this. I just think it’s unfair of us not to tell you the truth.”  
  
Her crusty exterior and freshly-ironed shirt collar contrasted with her soft, dewy eyes and new gentleness. Levi found it hard to read Rico Brzenska. He folded his arms as a barrier between them, but still listened carefully.  
  
Brzenska dropped her gaze to the uneven wood floors, and it took a long pause before she opened her mouth again. “Look, we’re…. not really planning on searching for your mother.”  
  
Something buzzed and crawled through Levi’s ears, settling in his brain to clear out all of his thoughts. “What did you say?”  
  
“I said we’re not going to search for your mother.”  
  
Levi watched his own hands clutch into pale fists. A slick, icy feeling slipped into his stomach to tighten it, and Levi shivered violently. “Why the hell wouldn’t you look for my _mother_?”  
  
Brzenska couldn’t meet his eyes. Instead, she just pushed her glasses up against her face, and spoke with trepidation, but also clarity. She’d either rehearsed this, or told many people before.“It’s just not practical for us. It’s not that we don’t care about your mother-“

  
“You don’t care about her like I do,” Levi snarled.  
  
“-that’s true, but…. It’s not… practical. We wouldn’t find her, Mr. Ackerman. You never find them. They either come back on their own, or they never come back at all.”  
  
The world had felt heavy to Levi before, but now it crushed his shoulders, while an angry fire began licking at his feet. “You’re not even going to try?!” he snapped, flashing white in his eyes and teeth. “She’s not worth _trying_?!”  
  
“She’s worth trying!” Brzenska barked back at him, stomping a foot. “Everyone is worth it! That’s exactly the reason why we can’t look for her!”  
  
“What the _hell_ do you mean?”  
  
“Levi,” Brzenska’s voice dropped to a lower, and colder tone, “You know what happens when you fuck with faeries. Everyone. Imagine a team of officers investigating the faeries.”

Levi still seethed, but he slowed himself down enough to let Brzenska explain herself more. “Imagine,” she continued, “not only your mother missing, but a whole team of officers. Mothers, sons, daughters, fathers—all lost. That’s what we’re looking at if we go after her. This isn’t malice, Levi, it’s common sense.”  
  
While he saw the logic in what Brzenska said, it didn’t stop Levi from wanting to scream. He trembled in his seat, as Brzenska left hers.  
  
“I really wish we could do something. I care. I really do care. But …. I don’t want to see more people disappear.”  
  
As she realigned the papers on her clipboard into crisp rectangles, Brzenska began to walk away, leaving Levi alone at the table. She only stopped once, to glance over her shoulder, and deliver a few final words.  
  
“Oh, and Levi? Please be careful. Since they kidnapped your mother, it’s more likely that they’ll kidnap you too…. especially if you used to see them as a child. Please, just be careful. I _really_ don’t want to see someone else go.”

~~  
  
As she left, the icy anger in Levi melted down into  pools of melancholy, dripping down around him and into all of the crevices and hallows of his heart until he believed he could drown into it. No one would even try to look for his mother. Defeated, and stony-faced, he retreated to his bedroom in slow, clunking steps soaked in his weariness.  
  
But, before he made it behind his door, someone stopped him in the hallway. It was the stranger from the laundry room, tall and imposing once again.  
  
“It’s good to run into you,” he commented, with a smile that infuriated Levi. Levi wished he could reach out and tear it right off. The day so far had stuffed him so full of fake, polite faces that another one might make him puke.  
  
Levi forced a nod. “Is there anything you needed help with…?” he asked, exasperated.

“No,” the man answered, “but did _you_ need help with anything? I, um, I overheard some of what the policewoman told you.”  
  
Out of all the things Levi wanted to hear from another human being, he would have ranked that pretty low on his list. Couldn’t other people respect his privacy? He left small towns behind for this very reason- he’d trade the intimacy and nosiness of them for the anonymity of a crowd any day.  
  
His forehead crinkled, and he tilted his chin up toward the man. “Did it occur to you that it was a _private_ conversation?”  
  
“I didn’t mean to,” the man defended, “but, well…” He pursed his lips, considering something, before continuing, “… I meant to ask, have you considered going after your mother yourself?”  
  
Levi hadn’t given the idea serious thought. After all, where would he look for her? Would he wander into the forest, where tales grew just as tall and wild as the trees? Would he look for faeries rings, and hope to find her sleeping inside of one? Perhaps he’d find her in a more abstract concept- in her gardens, in the spaces between the flowers she so carefully tended, or in the steam that rose from mugs of warm milk she used to bring to him as a child  
  
But, if the police wouldn’t look for her, perhaps he’d give it a shot anyway. Maybe Levi’s eyes, sensitive to the Fae, could do him some good for once. “I didn’t really think about that. That’s actually…. an interesting idea,” he told the man.

Some emotion passed over the man’s face that Levi couldn’t catch, and it left once handsome, but now sharpened and antagonistic features in its wake: cheeks too hollow and broad brows that cut severe shadows onto eyes beneath. It reminded Levi of something… some sinister childhood memory, but the details slipped out of him like a half-awake dream. It left him grasping for straws, and confused, Levi tilted his head at the man.  
  
“You said…. You said we met before, when we were in the laundry room, but I don’t remember you. What’s your name?”  
  
“You may call me…. Mr. Smith.” The man’s eyes glimmered for a moment, and Levi snorted out loud at the ridiculousness of the name.  
  
“ _Mr. Smith_? Honestly? Did you get that from the Matrix?”  
  
Mr. Smith, or whomever, didn’t even crack a smile when he shook his head. “You’re peculiarly blunt, and, no, I never watched the Matrix.”  
  
For a moment, Levi regarded the man, head-to-toe. He looked at his polished shoes, and his pale-green, iridescent silk shirt. It sat smooth and well-tailored underneath an expensive-looking blazer. Finally, Levi studied his face again. Everything about the man looked well-sculpted, but out of something heartless and inhuman.  
  
In return, Mr. Smith examined Levi with just as much interest, and an urge to run struck Levi. He wondered if Mr. Smith would give chase and hunt him down if he fled. Bristling, he took careful, calculated steps toward his bedroom, without even offering a proper goodbye.  
  
“We will meet someday soon, Levi,” Mr. Smith promised, and Levi slammed his door shut between them.  
  
~~~  
  
“Why would you need to look up the name of a guest?” Petra asked, suspiciously.  
  
Levi, edgy and snappy, lied about as well as a toddler. “I forgot his name. We chatted a little, and he told me it, but I’m really bad with names. I don’t want to get embarrassed when we talk again. But, um, I don’t know what room he’s staying in. Just let me look at the list?”  
  
Petra, among other things, knew Levi didn’t usually care to be particularly polite. He reeked of ulterior motives. But, while tragic, having a missing mother resulted in a few benefits. Among them were favors that could be pulled with little interrogation.  
  
“Fine,” she grumbled, pulling up a document on her laptop. “I thought you had like…. moldy laundry room to take care of, instead of being all creepy about guests.” Levi, ignoring her words, just anxiously hovered over her shoulder. There weren’t many names on the list, and Levi scanned through them all quickly.  
  
Mrs. Mina Wagner  
Mr. Dita Ness  
Mr. Oluo Bozado  
Mr. Erwin Smith

_Mr. Erwin Smith._

Everything in the world slowed down, and a loud rush filled Levi’s ears.In his mind, Mr. Smith’s eerily beautiful face rounded out and softened. His proportions all shrunk until he stood, eighteen years ago, as a gangly and surreal boy framed by the forest.  
  
_Levi, my name is Erwin._

**Author's Note:**

> Feedback in the form of kudos, comments, and critique are all warmly welcomed. My tumblr is [tashcho.tumblr.com](http://tashcho.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Child Faerie Erwin looks [something like this](http://tashacho.tumblr.com/post/129619414313/i-got-pretty-carried-away-with-the-concept-of), with a flower-crown made of foxglove and nightshade (as Levi noticed.) I'll update this with other illustrations I've made (or will make) as they become relevant.
> 
> Lots of thanks to Misaya ([tumblr](http://misayawriting.tumblr.com/) and [ao3](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Misaya)) for beta'ing early chapters and encouraging me to post this story.
> 
> After a year of no updates, I'm giving this a shot again.


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